by Maddy Proud
“Of course I am! Why wouldn’t I be?” Amber snapped defensively.
Grace decided she would leave it at that. Maybe she was wrong and Amber was just tired.
Once the girls were warmed up, Mrs Peters brought them together in a huddle. “I know today’s a big game for us and it’s going to be tough, but there’s another reason why you should all want to play your best.” Grace looked at Mrs Peters in confusion, unsure where she was going with this. “This year, Netball South Australia have decided that for the state team trials, only a select group of girls will be invited. This way they don’t have to spend too much time sorting through hundreds of girls, and it also gives them a chance to find players that might not have tried out had they not been asked.” She continued.
Grace’s heart began to race at the mention of the state team trials. Grace knew that they weren’t held until the end of the year but any mention of them made her blood pump. She had always dreamt of one day representing her state at the national championships.
“So today, as well as during the finals, there will be three state selectors sitting at the table over there,” Mrs Peters pointed towards a white trestle table set up with three ladies sitting behind it, analysing a piece of paper. Grace felt her breakfast come back up as nerves spread throughout her entire body. She was nervous enough about today’s game, and now there was the added pressure of impressing the selectors. Why didn’t Mrs Peters tell us about this earlier? Grace thought to herself. “Now I know you’re probably wondering why I’m only telling you this now, but I didn’t want you all stressing about it throughout week. I wanted you to focus on the game and what you could do for the team, not your individual performance. So I want you to think about that when you step onto the court today. The selectors aren’t looking for a player that is selfish and just tries to stand out, they want a team player who will do anything to help their team win. Now let’s go out there and show those Clovers what we’re made of!” Mrs Peters yelled.
Grace’s head was buzzing with what had just been said but she knew Mrs Peters was right. Grace wouldn’t have been able to get a minute of sleep knowing the selectors would be here. She needed to take Mrs Peters’ advice and stick to the game plan and do whatever she could to help the team win.
The game began with Grace and Amber starting in the goal defence and goal keeper positions respectively. It was tight from the first whistle, with each team scoring from their own centre pass. At quarter time the scores were even. Grace was so frustrated that they couldn’t take an intercept; the Clovers were taking so much care with the ball, passing it successfully between themselves until something opened up to allow them to penetrate the goal circle. The Lions were being equally cautious, so only fourteen goals had been scored between the teams in that first fifteen minutes.
Grace came into the second quarter with an extra bit of fire in her belly, eager to help her team get as much of the ball as possible. The first centre pass of the second quarter was the Clover’s. Grace waited in anticipation for the umpire to blow her whistle to start the quarter and once she heard it blow, she exploded over the line to take the ball before her opponent. It was a clean intercept that the Lions wasted no time scoring from. The rest of the quarter played out similar to the first, with both teams taking care of the ball and scoring off their centre pass. Finally, the Clovers’ goal attack missed her first shot of the game. Grace relished this opportunity and blocked the shooter out so she could grab the rebound before her opponent could even attempt to get the ball and sent it down the court. Stella was on fire and had not missed a shot for goal all game. She didn’t disappoint and slotted the ball through the net, giving the Lions a handy two-goal lead heading into the second half.
Unfortunately, the Clovers quickly got those goals back in the opening minutes of the third quarter. Grace’s heart sank, but she knew they could still fight back.
But then Amber missed a rebound opportunity and, annoyed at herself, started arguing with the umpire. The umpire handed the Clovers’ shooter the ball despite missing her attempt. It was the first in a series of mishaps for Amber that quarter. The umpire had decided to pay close attention to her after she snapped at her so Amber was ruled out of play time and again, called for contact and obstruction on numerous occasions. At the third change the Lions were four goals behind.
As the Lions huddled on the edge of the court, Amber exploded. “Who does she think she is? Is she blind? I’m not even touching my girl. I can’t believe this,” she ranted. “What a b*tch!!!”
Grace looked away from the group and saw that everyone at the courts, including the umpire, had turned to stare at Amber.
“Okay, Amber, that’s enough,” said Mrs Peters. “You’re off the court for the rest of the match.”
Grace admired Mrs Peters decision as she knew it would’ve been tough taking one of her best players off. It showed how much she wanted her team to show good sportsmanship and not just be good players. But Amber was in no mood to take the decision quietly. “Are you serious? I’m the best goal keeper we have. If you think I’m going to stand around and watch you all lose, you thought wrong,” she hissed at the group. She yanked at her bib, tore it off from the velcro on her bodysuit and tossed it aside, before she grabbed her bag and stormed off towards the gates.
The Lions teammates looked at each other, unsure what to do. The umpire blew her whistle to begin the final quarter, and everyone looked to Grace for advice.
She took a deep breath. Come on, Grace, she thought, they’re looking to you. Be calm! “I know we’re all a bit stressed, and I know you’re worried about Amber,” she said. “But we really need to focus on these next fifteen minutes. If each of us puts everything into it and leaves everything on the court then we can walk away with our heads held high. Let’s finish this game for Amber. One, two, three, LIONS!”
Mrs Peters gave Grace a pat on the back as she ran onto the court. She could tell Mrs Peters was proud of her for talking to the group but Grace couldn’t hide her annoyance at her co-captain. She knew something was going on with Amber and that she wasn’t herself, but she just wished she could have pushed that aside for the sake of the team. Despite this, they still had a quarter left to play and Grace was going to give it everything she had and worry about Amber later.
. . . . .
“I can’t believe we lost! What the hell was wrong with Amber?” Mia complained as they walked away from the court with their heads hung low in disappointment.
The Lions had lost by one goal. Grace had been so proud of the team – everyone had shown real determination and they’d fought back in the last quarter, but they ran out of time to make up for the Clovers’ third-quarter lead. Mrs Peters had congratulated the girls on their efforts, saying they should be proud of themselves for not giving up – especially after what had happened with Amber. Regardless, the girls hated losing and were not happy about it.
“I feel like there must be something big going on with her. I noticed her eyes were puffy and red when she got to the game, she might have been crying. Let’s not jump to any conclusions until we know the whole story,” Grace said. “I might try to call her tonight.”
“Don’t bother! So what if her daddy couldn’t buy her a pony?” Mia joked.
“Well, I guess it’s better to lose to Clarkson now than in the finals,” Stella said, trying to improve the mood of the group.
“Yeah, but what if this keeps happening? We might not even make finals!” Mia complained.
A shudder of fear spread through Grace’s body. What if Mia was right? What if Amber didn’t play for the rest of the season? What if she did play but kept arguing with the umpires? What if the Lions didn’t even make the finals? Grace’s head was spinning but she needed to get a grip and calm down. She was over exaggerating and needed to take things one day at a time.
“Let’s not even think about that,” Grace said, giving her own advice to her friends. “We’ll find out what’s wrong with Amber and then help her get
through it. Then we’ll win every game for the rest of the season and beat the Clovers in the finals!” Grace said with confidence, trying to convince herself more than anyone.
She also hoped the loss wouldn’t affect her chances of being invited to the state team trials, but right now she had bigger things to worry about. At the end of the day she cared more about her team and them performing well than what the selectors might have thought about her game. Plus, she wouldn’t find out for weeks, or even months, whether or not she’d made the cut. That would have to be put aside while she focused on finding out what happened to Amber and ensuring the Lions made the finals.
Grace came home from the game exhausted both physically and mentally and flopped herself onto the couch. She couldn’t stop thinking about Amber and their loss to Clarkson. Grace had gone through a roller-coaster of emotions – from anger at her co-captain’s inability to keep her feelings to herself to frustration that the team couldn’t win the game without Amber to sympathy for what she might have been going through.
Angus jumped on the couch next to Grace, breaking her train of thought and nearly causing her to fall off the couch.
“Watch what you’re doing, idiot,” yelped Grace in annoyance.
“Hey, grumpy, you’ve got to shake it off. It’s just one game! Let’s go have a kick of the footy – or even a throw of the netball,” Angus said.
“No, thanks,” Grace replied sulkily. She knew Angus was trying to cheer her up by offering to play netball, but she wasn’t interested.
“Okay, I know you lost a game, but so what? It’s not finals yet! It’s always good to lose a game during the season – it forces you to improve areas of your game you wouldn’t have thought about if you always win,” said Angus.
“It’s not just that, it’s Amber,” Grace confessed.
“What’s that princess done now?” Angus asked.
“She rocked up to the game late, then lost the plot and yelled at the umpire – so she was taken off. She’s pretty much the reason we lost,” Grace huffed.
“Seriously? Kick her off the team!” Angus yelled.
“Well, that wouldn’t really be fair,” sighed Grace. “I think something pretty bad is going on with her family,” Grace admitted.
“What do you mean?” Angus asked.
“Something’s not right with her. I saw her get upset on the phone to her parents the other day and she had been crying before she came to the game today.”
“Maybe you should ask her what’s going on?”
“She’ll just bite my head off and tell me to mind my own business.”
“Not if you show you really care. I know she can be mean as hell sometimes but she is human, after all. And maybe there’s a reason behind her nastiness!” Angus offered.
“Yeah, you might be right.” Grace admitted.
“Might? Dude, I’m always right!” Angus laughed as he jumped off the couch. “Now let’s stop with this all this emotional stuff and kick the damn footy!”
“Whatever, loser, race you to the backyard!” Grace sprinted past her brother.
. . . . .
Later that afternoon Grace tried calling Amber, but she got her voicemail. Grace was pretty sure Amber would just ignore any message Grace left, so she decided to ask her mum if she could ride her bike to Amber’s house before dinner. Amber couldn’t hang up on her if she was standing right in front of her.
“As long as you’re back before dinner and before it gets dark. And make sure you stick to the footpaths and wear your helmet!” Mrs Parker warned.
“Yes, Mum, I’ll be careful,” Grace assured her mum.
“You’re a good girl, Gracie. Not many others would do something like this.”
“We need her on the team, and she actually isn’t as bad as everyone thinks,” Grace replied as she walked out the door, grabbing her helmet on the way.
. . . . .
Amber and Grace lived only a few blocks away from each other but their houses couldn’t have been more different. Grace had only ever seen the Burns’ mansion as they drove past. Now, as she approached it on her bike, it seemed even more extravagant up close. The hedge fence was trimmed perfectly and every pebble on the footpath looked like it had been placed there by hand. It was located on the beach between Somerton and Glenelg, a modern, two-storey masterpiece with windows making up the face of the entire top storey and opening to a massive balcony overlooking the ocean. Grace left her bike at the front gate, not wanting to risk messing up the front garden. Even a stray pebble from the path would be noticed.
As she walked up the drive, Grace was in awe. No wonder Amber’s parties are always such a big deal, she thought. This is incredible!
Grace took a deep breath, swallowed her nerves and walked along the path to the frosted glass door. She tentatively rang the doorbell and waited anxiously for someone to answer.
She heard murmurs – and was that someone arguing? The voices grew louder. Grace retreated. It didn’t sound like the time for visitors … She was turning to head back down the path when Amber opened the door – and immediately closed it behind her.
“What are you doing here? You can’t come in,” Amber snarled.
“I just wanted to see if you were okay after what happened today,” Grace replied, taken aback by Amber’s aggressiveness.
“How do you think I am? First my parents tell me they’re getting a divorce, then the umpire picks on me and Mrs Peters takes me off! Yeah, I’m just great, thanks for asking.” Amber had wrapped her arms around her body defensively as she spoke. But then, realising what she had just said, she raised her hands to her mouth. Her eyes filled with tears.
Grace couldn’t tear her eyes from Amber – she hoped her face wasn’t revealing her shock. “I’m so sorry,” she said finally.
“I don’t even know what I just said. Please don’t tell anyone. I haven’t even told Jordan and Ashley yet,” Amber begged.
“Of course I won’t … but do you want to talk about it?” Grace offered.
“Not here.” Amber exhaled loudly. When she spoke again, she seemed to be more in control of her emotions. “Mum and Dad haven’t stopped fighting since I overheard them talking about splitting up,” she said. “They’re both blaming each other for the way I found out.”
“Why don’t we go for a walk on the beach?” said Grace. “You can tell me about it. Or if you don’t want to talk about it I’ll give you a rundown of the last quarter. It was a total doozy!” Grace didn’t even think about what she was saying. She and Amber were hardly even friends, but it felt right to offer any help she could.
“Yeah, okay, anything to get out of this mad-house,” said Amber, forcing a smile.
They walked together in silence at first as they made their way through the gates of Amber’s property and towards the stairs that would take them down to the beach. It was some minutes before Amber began talking quietly about her parents. She said they had always fought but it had become worse and more intense in the last few months. She didn’t know what to do – she was an only child, so she had no one to share her fears with. And her parents wouldn’t give her a straightforward answer about the future. She had overheard them talking about who Amber would live with after they separated. Right now, she said, she couldn’t bear the thought of living with either of them.
Amber even explained why she went to Linwood when her parents had enough money to send her to one of the more prestigious high schools. Apparently Amber’s parents thought there were more important things to spend their money on, although Amber admitted she was secretly pleased she got to attend a specialist netball school, as it gave her a distraction from all the arguing at home.
Amber and Grace walked side by side for what felt like hours, the conversation drifting from the girls’ family lives to netball and even boys. Grace opened up about her fears of starting high school and how she sometimes wished she could go back to last year when everything was so much simpler. Amber admitted she now felt the same, wanting more
than anything to erase the last few weeks from her life.
“I wish I could be in your family, your parents care so much about you and you’ve always got your brothers to hang out with,” Amber confessed.
“Yeah, I’m really lucky.” Grace admitted, feeling awkward talking about her happy family life when Amber’s was such a mess.
“Do you and Tyler hang out much?” Amber asked out of curiosity. Or did she just want an excuse to talk about Tyler and the boys?
“Not really. We did when we were younger but now me and Gus do everything together – Ty is always too busy with his band. I’ve seen him more these last few weeks with all the video stuff than I have in the last few years!” Grace admitted.
“Speaking of Tyler, what’s going on with you and Sebastian?” Amber asked, finally getting to the real reason for bringing Tyler up in the conversation.
“Nothing. What makes you say that?” Grace asked, taken aback.
“Don’t play dumb with me, I could see the way he was looking at you the other week at your house. The things I would do to have him look at me that way!” said Amber, pretending to fan herself from the heat. Her mood had definitely taken a turn for the better, although Grace wasn’t sure she wanted to talk about her private life.
“He was not!” Grace was embarrassed. “As I keep telling everyone, he’s like my brother! You all just get jealous because you think he’s some god, but to me he’s just the boy I grew up with who always used to take speckies up my back in marks up.” She couldn’t believe she was defending her relationship with Sebastian to Amber.
“All I’m saying is if Sebastian King was looking at me how he looks at you, I would not be here right now,” Amber said with a wink.
Grace shook her head and continued towards the stairs up from the beach.
Amber was quiet again as she walked with Grace to the front door of her house. Grace was unsure what to do next. She stared at the ground, towards the beach and then back at the house, twiddling with her hair, until Amber finally broke the awkwardness. She looked at Grace.